


I Wanna Hold Your Hand While We're Growing Up

by sovvannight



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, POV Lydia Martin, Post-Season/Series 04, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:34:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26324221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sovvannight/pseuds/sovvannight
Summary: Lydia, Stiles, and Malia see children fall through a mysterious portal in the woods.
Relationships: Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 3
Kudos: 58





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Forever Is Composed Of Nows](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5626840) by [Bre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bre/pseuds/Bre), [So_Caffeinated (so_caffeinated)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/so_caffeinated/pseuds/So_Caffeinated). 



> I'm borrowing the prompt from one of my favorite fics in my other fandom, Forever Is Composed Of Nows, AKA "our kid(s) from the future is/are here, which is hella awkward because not only are we not dating, you're actually dating someone else." It's irresistibly perfect for Lydia's summer of jealousy.
> 
> Title taken from the lyrics to "Best Years" by 5 Seconds of Summer.

Lydia sat in the backseat of Stiles’s jeep, staring out the window and pretending she was somewhere else, anywhere else. She should’ve driven herself to movie night at Scott’s, but instead, here she was, third-wheeling Stiles and Malia on the drive home.

Stiles pulled onto Circle Street, headed toward her neighborhood. A few blocks later, stopped at a stoplight, Lydia admitted to herself that the unease she was feeling was getting stronger, and wasn’t entirely related to the fact that she could see him and Malia holding hands through the gap between the front seats. “Stiles!” she said, louder than she’d intended. In a quieter voice, she continued, “We need to go back.”

He twisted in his seat to look back at her. And dropped Malia’s hand, not that she placed any significance on that fact. “Back to Scott’s?”

“No, just…back that way.” She waved toward the back of the jeep.

“Dead body?” he asked as he made a lane change and then pulled into the left turn lane.

His matter-of-factness calmed her nerves, a little. “I don’t know. I feel…I don’t know.” Her hands were twisting around the hem of her skirt, and she smoothed it out before setting her palms on her thighs and forcing them to stay still. “This feels more…time-sensitive. Urgent.” The ache in her heart reminded her of how she felt when Stiles was missing last fall, but she didn’t want to verbalize that.

The urgency subsided slightly when he made a U-turn and started back toward Scott’s house. She shut her eyes, ceding control to her banshee-senses, only vaguely noticing when she called out ‘left’ or ‘right.’

“Are we headed to the preserve?” Malia whispered.

Lydia relaxed. That was it; that was where they needed to be. When Stiles stopped the jeep, she scrambled out and immediately ducked under the chain closing the park entrance to start down the path, able to see via the just-past-full moon.

And eventually, not just the moonlight—up ahead, she could see a blue glow through the trees ahead. As she sped up toward it, she heard Malia say, “What the hell is that?”

Stiles called out, “Lydia, wait!”

But she couldn’t. Whatever was driving her forward was up ahead. She veered off the path and was about to push through some bushes when Stiles grabbed her.

“Will you wait?” he whispered. “Let’s do a little reconnaissance.”

Lydia rolled her eyes but allowed him to set the pace as they found a relatively sparse section of undergrowth and wormed their way through. 

Once in the clearing, they could see the glow clearly. It looked like a door, hanging in the air and filled with beams of pale blue light.

“We’re not walking through that, right?” Malia asked tartly.

Lydia stared at the light, wondering what to do next. “Well…I don’t feel anything pulling me forward anymore. We’re where we need to be, I think.”

The three of them circled the glow, examining it from different angles. The light was semi-translucent—Lydia could see Stiles studying it on the other side with a frown of concentration. When he yelped and jumped backward, she and Malia rushed around the object toward him. 

From that side of the glow, they could see a stick poking out of the glow as if to probe the air. The stick disappeared and then returned, and this time Stiles stepped up and tugged on the stick. It whipped back to through the glow and out of view.

She said, “Is that really the best idea? Now whatever is on the other side knows we’re here.”

They almost missed the next thing to come through the portal, but motion caught her eye and she gasped at the toe of a sneaker slowly emerged from the glow. A small shoe, made from multicolored striped fabric.

A hand was next, pushing through and waving around, still holding the stick they’d seen earlier.

Malia said, “That’s a kid. A human kid.”

“Let’s not assume—” Stiles started to say, but he cut himself off when a face, and then a whole head, leaned through the glow. It _was_ a child, or at least he appeared to be human, and looked about the same size as one of Lydia’s cousins who was in second grade.

The kid was looking at the ground. “Huh, it’s the same on this side.”

“You talk!” Stiles said.

The kid looked up, and his eyes widened when he saw Stiles. “Dad? What are you doing on that side? We were just—“

He must’ve lost his balance then, or the portal-thing lost patience with having a person half-in and half-out, because he tipped forward with a shout and was all the way through to their side. Stiles caught him before he could faceplant on the ground, resulting in an awkward half-hug.

The boy continued babbling. “We’re not in trouble, are we? We just wanted to go for a walk, and you and Mom both say that exercise and connecting with nature are important, right? And then we found that thing, and CC dared me—”

Stiles broke in with, “Kid, I’m not your dad.”

“You’re funny, Dad. How’d you get here? We rode our hovers, and I almost beat CC and AJ! And I didn’t fall off once!”

“Zach! You’re OK!” a voice cried out as a second child emerged from the glow, a girl this time, slightly taller and with lighter hair streaked with a darker color that wasn’t discernable in the moonlight. She planted one foot on their side of the portal, but half her body remained in whatever dimension they had come from. “Come back this way, bud.”

The kid, Zach, had turned to face the girl but gestured back toward Stiles. “Look, Dad’s here! It’s OK to come through, it didn’t hurt or anything.”

“Zach, come on!” the girl said sharply. She looked at Stiles with narrowed eyes. “That’s…that’s not our dad.”

“Sure it is!” Zach looked up at Stiles, then back to the girl.

“Look at how young he is. He looks like Dad used to look from pictures in, like, high school or something.”

Zach said to Stiles, “You’re not wearing your glasses.”

“Yeah, kid, I don’t wear glasses. And I’m 17, so I can’t be your dad. Sorry.”

Zach backed away in confusion, and Lydia felt bad for him, but then her attention was caught by the portal, which had started to pulse instead of glow in the steady way it had up to this point. She called out, “Hey, your portal is becoming unstable. I think you should—”

But then, as with Zach, the girl was no longer able to hang halfway through the portal and pitched forward to their side. She twisted back toward her side as she fell, trying to grab onto something…or someone, apparently, because when her arm and hand emerged from the portal she was holding onto the wrist of a second girl, who landed on top of the first in the leaves and grass of the clearing.

The portal blinked out, leaving them all temporarily blind while their vision adjusted to the decreased light levels. Lydia could barely make out the forms of the two girls as they helped each other up and dusted themselves off.

“Zach, c’mere,” the second girl spoke.

“If the portal’s gone, how are we going to get back?” He moved toward the girls, taking the hand of the lighter-haired girl.

Lydia stepped forward to stand next to Stiles, and Malia followed. “We’ll help you. You’re too young to be out here on your own.”

The lighter-haired girl looked from her, to Malia, to Stiles. “Look, I don’t know what you are or what your plan is, but you’re not our parents, and we’re not going to trust something that thinks it needs to look like our parents. Whatever underhanded scheme you’ve got going, we’re not going to fall for it. Race you back to our hovers, Zach!” She spun around and started running, dragging the boy behind. The second girl gave them a lingering look but then took off after the other kids.

Lydia frowned down at her suede, heeled booties. “I’m not really dressed for running in the woods. We can’t leave them out here alone, though.”

Stiles said, “Did you notice the girl said parents, plural?”

Malia bent down and untied her tennis shoes. She stepped out of them, pulled off her socks, and handed socks and shoes to Stiles. 

Lydia turned around, knowing what was coming next. She heard a rustle of clothing, and then she felt the wind of Malia’s passing as she ran off in coyote form. She turned back around to see Stiles juggling an armful of clothing while trying to bat off a dark, lacy bra that was draped over his head. 

She unhooked the strap from his ear and tucked the bra into her purse. “Shall we go after them?”

They followed the path the children had taken, away from the clearing and the path back to where he’d parked the jeep. 

“We’re headed toward the entrance near Scott’s,” Stiles said. When Lydia didn’t reply, he asked, “What are you thinking?”

“Just trying to work through the possibilities,” she replied. And she was, she was thinking furiously.

They heard a growl up ahead and broke into a jog. Around the next bend in the path, they found Malia blocking the children from proceeding, growling at the dark-haired girl who’d crouched down near her. The other two children were hugging, and the boy was crying. “I wanna go home!”

“Aunt Malia, c’mon,” the dark-haired girl cajoled.

Stiles said, “Aunt Malia?” which drew the kids’ attention.

“Yes, she’s our aunt Malia,” she replied. “And you’re my uncle Stiles, and aunt Lydia.”

Lydia decided to test out a theory. “What if I told you it was the year 2012?”

The dark-haired girl laughed, but the lighter-haired one said, “That makes sense, actually. When we fell through the portal, we time traveled. And that’s why our hovers aren’t here. Because hovers haven’t been invented yet, right? Dad had a skateboard when he was a kid, remember, Zach?”

Zach wiped his tears away. “Yeah, I remember. You were mad at Dad when I scraped my knees when I fell off it.”

He addressed this statement to Lydia, and she froze. “What- what do you mean? Why did I get mad?”

“That’s what moms do.” He shrugged.

Lydia was struck speechless by that statement, but Stiles was not. “Wait—you’re my son, and you’re Lydia’s? We have a child…together?”

The lighter-haired girl said, “Two, actually. And you’re married.”

“Guys!” the darker-haired girl said sharply. “We need to stop talking. Now. _Back to the Future_ , remember? If we’re really time traveling, then we might be messing everything up.”

“If this is 2012, then are you still dating aunt Malia?” the lighter-haired girl asked, in defiance of that statement.

Malia growled again, and Stiles ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. “Well, we _were_ , but this makes things a little awkward.”

“Like I said, we’re messing with the timeline. We need to get back before we erase ourselves.” The dark-haired girl peered up and down the path like she was looking for a way out.

“Lydia? My future wife? Got anything to say?” She looked away from the kids to see Stiles grinning at her, but he sobered when he took in her expression. “Oh, you’re freaking out.”

“Of course I’m freaking out!” She was relieved to have an outlet for her emotions. “How are you not freaking out?” Looking at the children, she could see it now. The boy had her nose, her chin. The girl’s hair was probably strawberry blonde, but she had Stiles’s cute little upturned nose.

Stiles shrugged. “Hey, I’m just excited that we’re all living long enough to have kids and see them at least partially grow up.”

Zach walked over to her and hugged her. “Don’t freak out, Mom. Dad’ll figure it out, right? That’s what you always say. ‘He’s the one who figures things out.’ ”

“I do say that, don’t I?” she said faintly. “I think…I think we should gather everyone up. Get Scott, get Deaton. Consult the beastiary. Will you kids come with us? Back to Stiles’s, maybe—is your dad working tonight?” 

“He’s at home. Uh, OK.” He looked around. “Um, so we’ll be a tight squeeze in the jeep, but we can fit.”

Malia yipped once and then ran off down the path in the direction that would have her exit the preserve near Stiles’s house. “Or Malia will just meet us there. OK, I parked back this way.” He walked off, and Lydia and the kids followed him.

The boy—Zach—grabbed her hand. “It’s pretty dark out here. I’m glad you’re here, you and Dad. I’d be scared if you weren’t here.”

“I’m- I’m glad we’re here, then. For you.” She grimaced at her awkwardness, but really, how was she supposed to know what to say to her children from the future?

Behind her, one of the girls said, “Maybe we should wait back in the clearing. What if the portal opens back up and we miss it?”

Lydia glanced back at them. “What can you tell us about the portal? Was it there when you got to the clearing? Had there ever been sightings of something like that before? What phase of the moon were you in, back in your own time? And what are your names, anyway?”

The darker-haired girl said, “I’m AJ, and this is CC. I don’t remember hearing about anything like this, do you, CC?”

“I don’t, but…we don’t live here. Sorry, AJ, I know we’re trying not to reveal anything, but we’re just visiting. Uh, the adults were gathered together to talk about something, but we don’t know what. And the full moon was 3 days ago.”

“So that’s the same as here.” Lydia looked back at the two girls. “Are you doing alright? Not too scared?”

“Zach’s right,” CC said. “It’s less scary with you here. And maybe it’s kind of nifty to meet you, you know, as a teen.”

Stiles yelled back, “Did you really say ‘nifty?’ Who says nifty?”

CC sighed exaggeratedly. “All the cool cats in twenty thir- I mean, our time, we say nifty.”

“Oh my god,” AJ muttered.

Lydia tried to console her. “We’re almost to the car. You’ll see your dad soon.”

“Who? I’m not sure who you mean. What dad?” 

At that moment, she sounded exactly like Kira, who was so very bad at lying. “You’re adorable. Your mom is in New York for the summer, but maybe we can Skype or something.”

“My mom?” she tried half-heartedly, and even Zach laughed.

They reached the chain blocking the entrance to the preserve, since technically it was closed after dark. Stiles jogged ahead to get the doors open. The kids piled into the back seat, and Lydia took the passenger seat as Zach exclaimed, “It’s _the_ _jeep_! This is más nifty!”

As Stiles started the jeep, she called Scott. When he picked up, she explained the situation, and he agreed to meet them at Stiles’s, and to contact Deaton and see if he was available. After the call ended she tapped the phone against her hand as she thought.

“Wondering who else to contact?” Stiles asked.

She glanced at him, but his eyes were back on the road. “Argent’s still with the Calaveras, so he’s out. Derek’s god-knows-where. What about Satomi? And we should seriously call Kira, because maybe her Mom has heard of something like this.”

“Good thinking,” he said in an overly neutral tone, to Lydia’s ears, at least.

“What?”

“You’re approaching it like a problem to be solved now and avoiding the emotional implications, aren’t you? Not that I’m judging, I get that it’s…a lot.”

She sighed. “Yes, but also, I’m thinking about cosmology.”

“Cosmology,” he repeated, then took one hand off the wheel to wave at her in a ‘go on’ gesture.

“Well, some cosmologists and theoretical physicists think there could be an infinite number of parallel universes to our own, but with slight differences.”

“Sure, I’ve read those comics,” Stiles said.

Lydia snorted. “It’s not just science fiction. There are scientists and philosophers out there who believe it and are trying to figure out how to test the hypothesis. But the point is, it could be that they aren’t from our future, but from some other earth’s future. Maybe in this universe, you’re really meant to be with Malia—I think you shouldn’t disregard the possibility just yet.”

From the backseat, Zach asked, “Do you want to get divorced from Dad?”

“Well, it wouldn’t be divorce because we’re not actually married. We’re still in high school, remember? And if you’re really from an alternate universe, then whatever Stiles and I do here wouldn’t affect you.”

“But can you take that chance?” CC countered. “Ya know, I kind of like being around and stuff. It’s like that movie—we don’t want to erase ourselves just by being here. In- in our future, you and Dad are honestly kind of gross together, with the kissing and stuff…and you seem to like being our mom.”

“I’m sorry if I disobey sometimes,” Zach said, sounding near tears, which made her feel incredibly guilty.

Stiles jumped in. “Hey, no, buddy, I’m sure you’re a great kid. Better than me as a kid, anyway. You know what my mom nicknamed me when I was a kid?”

“Mischief!” Zach said excitedly. “See! That’s true for us, too. It’s the same, right?”

“Yep, that’s it. It’s exactly the same.”

Zach said, “I think you’re our real parents. You gotta be.”

Lydia saw that they were turning onto Stiles’s street. “Well, we’re almost to Stiles’s home, so let’s see what the pack has to say.”

Stiles parked behind his dad’s cruiser, avoiding Scott’s bike, which was parked to the side.

He left Malia’s clothes for her on the front stoop on the way inside. Lydia lingered to add Malia’s bra to the pile, and so that she was the last one in and didn’t have to face the sheriff front and center. The sheriff, her future father-in-law, she thought with a wince.

In the light, she could see the children better. CC’s hair was strawberry blonde, with streaks of clashing medium blue mixed in. AJ had a gorgeous mane of black curls that reminded her of Melissa McCall’s hair. And Zach, she saw when he turned back to hold her hand again, had green eyes like her, but also a smattering of moles across the skin of his face, neck, and arms.

Scott and the sheriff were in the kitchen, leaning against the counter as they chatted, but the conversation cut off as Stiles, Lydia, and the kids came into view.

Stiles’s dad stepped forward to greet them. “Scott said you found some kids lost in the preserve?”

Zach pushed forward to throw his arms around the Sheriff’s waist in a hug. “Grandpa!”

Stiles ran a hand through his hair. “So yeah, these are, uh…meet your future grandchildren, maybe?”

The sheriff gaped and them, then sputtered, “Th- the future? I- didn’t I specifically say no time travel?”

Zach looked up at the sheriff. “I’m glad you’re here, Grandpa. Did you make any cookies? I’m kind of hungry, and it’s not that late, right?” He smiled winsomely up at the sheriff.

“I’ve never baked cookies in my life. Do I bake in the future?” the sheriff asked faintly.

CC said, “We keep telling him not to say anything about the future. But the word’s out, so, uh, hey, I’m your granddaughter CC.” She stepped forward but then stopped as if she was uncertain if she should hug him or offer a hand to shake.

He rested his hands on her shoulders, narrowed eyes scanning over her face. The sheriff’s gaze shifted to Lydia, then, and she was a little stunned by the moisture gathering in his eyes. “You named your daughter Claudia,” he said, a statement rather than a question.

Lydia felt the impact as she realized he was right, and Stiles gasped. She thought about it for a moment, then asked CC, “And your middle name is Claire, isn’t it? I always loved that name. Claudia Claire—it has a nice ring to it.”

CC looked around at the adults. “I…can neither confirm nor deny.” But she was grinning at Lydia, and added, “But if I did have a name you particularly like, that might provide evidence that _you_ picked the name, right?”

Noah made a questioning sound, so Lydia said, “This might be simple time travel—” Stiles snorted, but she ignored him. “—or it might be an alternate universe situation.”

He sighed. “I’m not even gonna ask. The goal is to get them home, regardless, I presume.”

There was a knock at the door, and he left the room to answer it. Scott walked up to AJ, smiling sweetly. “You look like your mother, AJ. And I think I know what the ‘A’ stands for, but you don’t have to confirm or deny. Can- can I hug you?”

She nodded and they hugged. Lydia watched the tension flowed out of her shoulders, and realized that AJ—Allison—was trying to be the calm and supportive leader of their little group, just like Scott would in the same situation, a heavy burden for someone so young.

“How old are you all, anyway?” she asked idly.

Zach said, “We shouldn’t answer that, right?”

She sighed. “You’re right, I suppose. How about a non-spoilery question—what’s with the blue streaks?” She eyed CC’s hair with disdain, because those colors clashed, badly, and she would’ve thought her child would have a better fashion sense.

CC fluffed her hair. “It’s orange and blue for the Mets—”

Stiles pumped his fist in the air. “My future children are Mets fans! Yes!”

“They played the Giants, and Dad needed to be in San Francisco for, uh, work, so we went. It’s just temporary. Future you hates it, too.”

Noah came back into the kitchen with Deaton. “Malia’s out there, so why don’t we wait for her?”

Lydia whimpered softly as her stomach clenched in nervousness. What could she possibly say to Malia about all this?

The kids, meanwhile, greeted the new arrival with a chorus of, ‘Dr. Deaton!’ So Deaton was still around in the future, which was good news. She was so caught up in watching them that she jumped when Stiles said into her ear, “You still freaking out?”

“Yeah.” She bit her lip. “They’re pretty cute, though.” They both seemed to have Stiles-levels of animation, talking over each other and vying for Deaton’s attention. She wondered if maybe they found it a little easier to interact with a past version of someone who wasn’t a relative…or maybe they just really liked Deaton.

The front door banged open, then, and Malia walked through before closing it forcefully behind her. “I have questions,” she declared. Everyone came to attention, and she continued, “First…Stiles and Lydia’s kids are here, Scott and Kira’s daughter is here, so where are my children? Do I not have any? Am I dead in the future?”

Zach said with disdain, “They’re just babies. They’re too young to play with us.”

CC sighed. “ _You’re_ a baby.” She poked him in the arm, and he backed away before sticking out his tongue at her. 

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

Noah started laughing, and the kids’ antics ground to a halt as they stared at him. He finally gasped out, “They say…grandchildren…are a parent’s best revenge…”

“Nice, Dad. You guys should, uh, stop it, I guess. Zach, you said you were hungry. Do you want me to make you a sandwich, or something? Anybody else hungry?” Stiles led the way back into the kitchen proper, opened the fridge, and started throwing out suggestions based on the contents.

Lydia heard the kids let slip another detail about their future, asking for Stiles’s famous curry, which he claimed he didn’t know how to make. She was waiting for Malia, frantically circling through her thoughts to find something acceptable to say. She settled on, “I’m sorry,” when Malia was in arm’s reach.

Malia shrugged. “I always thought you and Stiles might get back together one day. I—”

“Get back together? What are you talking about?”

“You’re exes,” Malia said slowly. “You used to date? I’ve never asked what happened…” She trailed off as Lydia shook her head vigorously.

“We’re not exes,” Lydia declared firmly. After she said it, she realized the rest of the living area was quiet and everyone was staring at her and Malia. “What? Stiles and I didn’t date!”

Stiles said, “Well, I mean technically we did go out on a few dates. The dance, ice skating, and the other times we covered for Scott and Allison…” He winced at the last, shooting a glance at Scott, but Scott just looked interested in the conversation. “So, what do exes smell like?”

“Regret, sadness, anger.” Malia’s lips twitched, and she added, “Sexual frustration. Zoey and Charles in English class reeked after they broke up last month, just like you and Lydia. Chemosignals don’t lie.”

“Maybe you’re misinterpreting,” Lydia said desperately. 

“Why does this bother you so much?” Malia’s head cocked to the side, and she looked genuinely curious rather than upset.

“I don’t know!” Lydia turned away to pace to the end of the living room and back, ignoring everyone but Malia. “Alright. The thing is, for the past year, things have just, just, _happened_ to me! Peter’s attack, every dead body I’ve found, the Nogitsune kidnapping me…I didn’t have a choice about any of it. I just have to cope and try to make the best of things. And I’m _tired_ of it—I’m so tired of not having choices!

“And now some of the few choices I have made—being your friend, and burying whatever might’ve been with Stiles because you seemed happy with each other, I’m just supposed to let that go and fall in line with another choice that’s been made for me?” She shook her head. “I don’t want my whole life planned out for me, no matter how great that life seems.”

Stiles slid plates of sandwiches across the counter to the kids and brushed his hands off on his pants as he walked toward her. “Can we talk? Outside, maybe?”

She didn’t want to, particularly, but she figured she might as well get it over with. She led the way out through the living room and out onto the front stoop. “So, talk.”


	2. Chapter 2

_Previously..._

_“Why does this bother you so much?” Malia’s head cocked to the side, and she looked genuinely curious rather than upset._

_“I don’t know!” Lydia turned away to pace to the end of the living room and back, ignoring everyone but Malia. “Alright. The thing is, for the past year, things have just, just, happened to me! Peter’s attack, every dead body I’ve found, the Nogitsune kidnapping me…I didn’t have a choice about any of it. I just have to cope and try to make the best of things. And I’m tired of it—I’m so tired of not having choices!_

_“And now some of the few choices I have made—being your friend, and burying whatever might’ve been with Stiles because you seemed happy with each other, I’m just supposed to let that go and fall in line with another choice that’s been made for me?” She shook her head. “I don’t want my whole life planned out for me, no matter how great that life seems.”_

_Stiles slid plates of sandwiches across the counter to the kids and brushed his hands off on his pants as he walked toward her. “Can we talk? Outside, maybe?”_

_She didn’t want to, particularly, but she figured she might as well get it over with. She led the way out through the living room and out onto the front stoop. “So, talk.”_

_~~~_

He walked past her to lean against the jeep, taking them a little further from the house and possibly getting them out of earshot of Scott and Malia. With a small smile on his face, he said, “So, it sounds great, having a future with me?”

She huffed in annoyance. “That’s what you latch onto? The kids are adorable. I feel that tug.” She pressed her hand over her heart. “That’s what I’m focused on, mostly. You…” She glanced away and sighed. “I meant what I said: whatever might’ve been starting to happen between us last fall, whatever Deaton said about tethers and connections…you stopped talking to me after- after…Allison died, and then I turned around and you were with Malia. So, you can’t—”

Stiles interrupted with, “I stopped talking to you because I thought you blamed me.”

Lydia stared at him, utterly bewildered. “Why would I blame you?”

He laughed shortly. “Because _I_ blamed me?”

“Oh, Stiles…”

“Look, it was just, I felt so guilty around everyone, but Malia hadn’t witnessed all the terrible things I did, and she didn’t know Allison, so she didn’t hate me. And she _needed_ me, and I thought…if I could just help her, fix one of the bad things we did—you know she didn’t want to be human, when we first changed her back?”

“Yeah, she’s said.”

“I just wanted to make one thing right. Just one thing. And then…I like it. I like being a…boyfriend, I guess. Being in a relationship.”

“You’re good at it,” she said softly.

“Yeah?” His voice dropped into that husky tone that always sent shivers down her spine, and Lydia shook her head to break the spell. “Anyway, I guess I just kind of settled into things? But I always thought Malia would be done with me eventually. Not that she’s using me or anything, just…I’m serving a purpose in her life, but eventually she’d want something more…that still doesn’t sound right, but you know what I mean, maybe?”

“She’s a baby bird and you’re expecting her to leave the nest?” When he grimaced at her joke, she stepped forward and laid a hand on his arm. “Stiles, you like taking care of people. It’s one of your most admirable qualities. I can understand needing to nurture someone to bring yourself out of your grief.

“And I’m sorry…I know I pulled away from you, and everyone. It wasn’t because I blamed you—I blamed myself, too. Allison died rescuing me—” He shook his head and started to speak, but she continued, “I know, neither of us should blame ourselves, but I couldn’t help it. I felt guilty about Aiden, too. I pushed him to be a better person, and if he hadn’t gotten involved maybe he’d still be alive.”

“But we also might not have defeated it without him,” Stiles countered.

“I know. I know all the ‘might have beens’ are pointless. And I know…the old Lydia looked at guys like they’re playthings, and that girl might’ve thought she could just pick you up again when she was ready and you’d be there…”

“To play with?”

“Funny. But I don’t want to be that person anymore, either, so I just…let it go. Tried to put it out of my head.”

He asked softly, “And now?”

“Now I think…I’ll never know if you really want me, or if you’ve just accepted your fate.”

Stiles laughed. He actually laughed at her. “You think I don’t want you?”

When she just stared at him, tears forming in her eyes, he said, “Oh, no, hey. Don’t do that.” He pulled her in for a gentle hug, and she rested her forehead against his shoulder, remembering a similar embrace at the winter formal the previous year.

“So much has happened since then,” she murmured.

“Thinking about the dance?” He rocked them back and forth gently as if they were slow dancing to an unheard melody. “That started out as the best night of my life—I’d landed a date with the girl of my dreams.”

“And then I ruined it by pathetically chasing after my ex.”

He corrected her. “And then _Peter_ ruined it by almost killing you. _You_ were great.”

“Really?” She lifted her head to look him in the eyes and was thrilled by the sincerity she saw there.

“Really.” He sounded breathless, suddenly, and Lydia swayed toward him without any volition. “I really want to kiss you right now.”

A flicker of motion caught Lydia’s attention. “Do _not_ kiss me,” she said, a bit more forcefully than she’d intended. When he took a step back in alarm, she said, “Our future children are spying on us.”

They turned to see the kids peeking out from the gap between the curtains. Their giggles were audible through the glass as they dropped the curtain quickly, and Lydia shook her head. “Mischief squared. I hope we’re up to it.”

“I say we get in there and see what other information about the future we can pry out of the kids. Zach’s the weak link there, don’t you think?” Stiles rubbed his hands together and grinned impishly. He gestured toward the front door, allowing her to go first. 

When they reached the door, Lydia made a split-second decision: she whirled around, bunched her hands in the fabric of Stiles’s shirt, and pulled him down for a kiss. Hard and fast, like a stamp of possession, and then she let him go and dropped back down onto her heels. “There. You got your kiss.”

“Hmm, no, that one doesn’t count.” He cupped her face and bent down slowly, giving her time to protest, but she wouldn’t. She’d wanted a real kiss from him since she’d kissed him to stop his panic attack last fall. The actual experience of it was even better than her fantasies, all warmth and gentleness.

His lips broke away from hers eventually, but he stayed close, still cupping her face while pressing his forehead against hers. “Future kids or no future kids, we would’ve gotten here eventually. I love you, Lydia Martin.”

She felt the impact of his words zing through her, settling in her chest. Not ready to say it back just yet, she kissed him one more time, hoping she could communicate her feelings without words.

Stepping back inside, they found all of the room’s occupants huddled around a laptop. Mrs. Yukimura’s voice came from the speaker: “I realize the irony, but I would have said that time travel is the stuff of fantasy.”

“Except that we’re here,” CC said.

AJ spoke up. “I know there was something going on. In the past week or so Mom and Dad have had a couple of conversations that stopped when I walked into the room, and…” She glanced at CC and winced. “And they did tell, uh, someone else to stay out of the woods. Not me, technically, so we weren’t actually disobeying…”

CC groaned. “Self-snitching? C’mon, AJ.”

Stiles and Lydia reached the group around the laptop and saw that they were talking to Kira and her parents. Mr. Yukimura said, “You remind me of Kira at that age. And this age,” he said as he nudged Kira’s shoulder. 

She rolled her eyes. “As a…future parent, I guess? I’m sure the, uh, future versions of us will just be glad to see you get back. When you get back. So, uh, getting back to the point—how do we get them back to their own time? Deaton, anything?”

He shut the book he was flipping through, revealing a cracked leather binding and a gold-embossed, Cyrillic title Lydia couldn’t read. “I’m not seeing anything relevant. I’ll reach out to my contacts, but I think time travel would be a story that would circulate if it had happened before. I think we should inspect the site tomorrow. Say, 9 am? It was the entrance near the pond, right?”

“Right.”

Zach asked, “Where are we going to sleep? I don’t have a toothbrush or pajamas.”

“Uh, guest room?” Stiles asked his dad, “When was the last time we vacuumed or dusted in there?”

The sheriff grimaced. “Too long. Somebody could take the couch, and then we’ve got sleeping bags somewhere…”

Lydia said, “They could come home with me. I’ve got plenty of room.”

Stiles asked, “But what will you tell your mother?”

She sighed. “Good point.”

Just then, someone knocked at the front door. Everyone froze and looked at each other, wide-eyed. 

CC whispered, “Do we need to hide?”

Stiles started walking toward the door as Lydia said, “It’ll be fine, I’m sure.” Scott and the sheriff started moving in that direction as well, presumably to provide backup, and she continued, “But maybe you should head into the hallway.” She pointed toward a hallway leading toward the garage and laundry room, which would block them from view of the living room.

But then they all heard someone say, “Are the kids here?”

There was a pause, and then Stiles said, “Derek?”

He came into view a moment later, in his standard leather jacket, t-shirt, and jeans, but…

Malia said, “You look old.”

AJ chimed in with, “When did you grow that beard?”

Derek said, “You kids have been gone almost the whole summer, in my time.”

Zach said, “We missed the whole summer? But we were going to Disneyland! And I was going to take swimming lessons!”

Derek ruffled his hair. “You’ve still got a couple of weeks, but I think your parents are going to want you to stick close to home. They’ve missed you, you know.” He looked around, then said to Malia, “And you look young. You all look so young.” He grinned at Scott and shook his head. “I forget how young you all were when we met. This is 2012, right?”

Lydia said, “Right. How did you get here?”

“From what you said, the morning after the kids disappeared, things had changed. You all suddenly had two sets of memories—you remembered meeting the kids, and also remember a version of this summer when you didn’t meet the kids. Once you figured out what must’ve happened, you and Stiles got to work. 

“It took a couple of months, but you figured out how to control the portals. You had a theory that it would be bad for two versions of a person from different times to meet, so I volunteered to be the one to come get the kids since I wasn’t in Beacon Hills this summer. And here I am. You kids ready to go?”

“Wait,” Lydia and CC said simultaneously, then looked at each other and laughed. CC said, “Can we take a picture? I want to show you when we get back.” She pulled a device out of her pocket that Lydia guessed was a phone, although it was smaller than modern phones and oddly shaped. “OK, me and Mom, first.” She stepped close to Lydia and held up the phone just like Lydia would to take a selfie, and Lydia posed instinctively. CC ordered everyone around to get different groupings of her and AJ’s families, and AJ got into the act as well, insisting on a picture of Scott and Derek. Derek, who was wearing a wedding band, Lydia noticed for the first time; she was glad that he had found someone.

“I don’t have a phone yet,” Zach announced as he leaned against her, and she brought an arm up to hug him. “Not ‘til I’m 10, you and Dad said.”

Stiles walked over to them while digging in his pocket. “Here, you want to borrow mine?” He pulled it out and unlocked it, then held it so Zach could see the screen. “Camera is this icon…here, let me switch to the front camera so you can see what you’re doing…smile!” He crouched down and took a picture of the two of them, then handed the phone to Zach.

“Can we all do one?” Zach asked Lydia, so she and Stiles posed with him, and then he ran off to show the phone to CC. “Look at this phone, CC! It’s so weird looking! Let’s take a snap with it!”

“He’s so adorable,” Stiles said, wearing the oddest expression on his face. “I can’t really believe they’re ours. We did that! Aren’t they great? And I guess…I mean they seem well-adjusted and healthy, so we must be good parents?”

“Why do you sound so surprised? Did you think you wouldn’t be?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I really only thought about it recently, and then it was just…” He hesitated and grimaced. “Thinking about Argent and Allison. How hard that must’ve been. And I mean, it looks like we’re going to suffer, losing the kids for a whole summer twenty years from now or whatever.”

“But we’ll know they’re safe, and that we’ll get them back.”

“Still.”

CC yelled, “Hey, Mom and Dad, I want a snap of all of us and Grandpa, too.”

They obediently gathered together with the sheriff and the kids, and AJ and Scott took pictures with various devices from the present and the future.

Finally, Derek said, “We need to get going. Your parents are waiting for you.”

After a flurry of hugs, Derek moved toward the door with the kids following him. “I can’t use the device indoors, but we can activate it out in the front yard.”

AJ turned back. “Wait! Aunt Lydia! I, uh, you need to know. I have—” She slanted a look at Scott. “I have an older sibling. I just didn’t want you to think, when Mom gets pregnant, you should too. CC’s my best friend, and I don’t want her to be older when we get back!”

“OK. Good to know.”

“And Mom?” CC said. “Techlytica, Shopside, and Brantley. For our college fund.”

Derek rubbed his forehead as if he had a headache. “You kids will be the death of me. Can we go, or would you like to pass on some winning lottery numbers?”

CC said, “If I knew any…maybe we can come back, since you can control the portals now?”

“Your mom is destroying the device once you’re back. It’s too dangerous.” He opened the front door and waved them forward. The kids stepped out of the house, and Lydia and the others followed behind him.

Derek walked out into the middle of the yard and placed a small device on the ground. Lydia joined him, checking out the device with interest—she’d need to build it someday, and any hints would be helpful. After he pressed some buttons, it began to make a mechanical humming sound. “You might want to back up,” he said, following his own instruction.

A doorway formed by glowing blue light appeared above the device. “Kids first. Go on, now.”

AJ hugged Scott one more time, waved to the rest of them, and then stepped through.

Lydia hugged CC, then Zach, suddenly feeling like she was going to cry. “It’s OK, Mom,” Zach said. “I’ll see you on the other side of the door, right?”

She smoothed back his hair and tried her best to smile. “You’ll see me. I’m just sad because I won’t see you for a while, here, right? Your dad and I need to finish school and get married first.”

CC walked up to him and grabbed his hand. “You ready, Zach?”

“OK. Bye!” They waved and then they turned and walked through the portal. 

She felt a pang as they disappeared, but was distracted when Stiles walked up to her and grabbed her hand. 

Derek walked up to the portal, then turned back to look at them. His gaze lingered on each of them, ending with Scott. He hesitated, then said, “Remember, whatever happens over the next few years, you get through it.” He stepped through the portal backward, reaching down to pick up the device as he disappeared. And then the portal winked out, and Lydia was temporarily blinded while she adjusted to having only the light of the moon to see.

“Well, that was ominous,” Stiles said.

Malia said, “I wonder what he meant by that?”

Stiles replied, “Sounds like business as usual. But at least we know we all live. That’s something, right?”

Scott pulled his keys out of his pocket. “I’m heading home—it’s been a long night, and the clinic still has to open tomorrow morning.”

“Can I grab a ride?” Malia asked. Scott nodded, and they were off, following Deaton as he backed out of the Stilinskis’ driveway.

Lydia bit her lip as she looked up at Stiles. “I…also need a ride home.”

“Sure, sure, I can do that.”

An awkward silence filled the jeep as Stiles started driving toward Lydia’s neighborhood. “What a crazy night,” he finally said.

“Crazy,” Lydia agreed. “I guess we know what to watch at next week’s movie night.”

“ _Back to the Future_ , right, with the actor from _Teen Wolf_. So, uh, Lydia…”

When the silence had gone on too long, she said, “Yes?”

“So, I guess in the future I make a great curry, but I’ve never even tried curry before—my dad’s not exactly the most adventurous eater ever. So, I was wondering, would you want to try Indian food with me, sometime?”

“Sure. It’s a date.” 

He let out the breath he must’ve been holding, and a huge smile broke across his face. Lydia felt just as happy as Stiles: they’d seen the future, and it looked great.


End file.
